7.25.2006

yet another graphic design / artist site with a gallery and a manifesto

http://www.compactspace.com

APPLIED CREATIVITY AND THE INTERFACES OF VISUAL CULTURE 01 Mass communication is altering and deviating our true perception of reality and reflects an alienation within our society.

communication alters perception; the urge to commuticate itself signals a distance, difference, or "alienation" one being to another

02 Today’s public spaces are overwhelmed by mass communication, blinding viewers to art’s aesthetic and function.

today's public "spaces" are increasingly ones of structured and moderated (owned, operated) communication rather than physical space, or within physical space

03 Experience and entertainment have become the guidelines for our visual culture.

as opposed to -- what? utility to what end?

04 An Interface is a mutually transforming encounter between people and cultures that leaves nothing as it was before.

not my defn.

back to digging in my yeard

05 The interfaces of our current visual culture have the same relation to responsibility as Disney World to reality.

disney just fired its pres., and appointed a man who is coming from consumer products, where (after star wars) more money is made than the films themselves

so what is it about these objects -- sentiment/ a signal that creates a memory of entertainment, a fantasy-totem?

06 We need fundamental changes and modifications to our current interfacing system in order to engage in the shaping of a more authentic and livable world. 07 Awareness and responsibility stand before conceptualization and must induce a deeper examination and questioning of current world issues. 08 Interfaces must start a dialogue that draws attention to critical issues by both surprising and disturbing the ordinary and promoting awareness and responsibility. 09 Contemporary art must infiltrate the interfaces of our visual culture. 10 Contemporary art and mass communication must combine their skills and responsibilities. 11 Applied Creativity is the advanced combination of art and communication, a fusion which creates solutions, originates new possibilities and provides alternatives for our visual culture. 12 Applied Creativity requires the transmission of cultural criticism through artistic activities. 13 Applied Creativity must supply information and content that will lead to beneficial dialogues within an alternative inter-visual global culture. 14 The practice of applied creativity will not simply create critical tools with which to negotiate a changed contemporary world, it will re-conceptualize the manner in which such tools are implemented.

compact/space is pleased to announce If you lived here, you’d be home bynow, an exhibition of photographs, paintings, video and live installationby Ian James, Cathy Kim, Glenna Jennings, Meghann McCrory and ChelseaMolnar and Charchi Stinson curated by Eve Fowler.

Collapsed homes, scary bushes, rock-throwing sessions, ESL lessons andex-lover baseball cards abound in this group show about how humans try toleave evidence of their respective passages through space and time. Theartists observe and/or create their own architectural realities, which areultimately rendered uninhabitable for public, personal or physicalreasons.

Ian James' recent work provides documents of minor acts of physicalchange. Rocks tossed from cliff sides and holes clipped in fencing attemptto alleviate the personal anxiety that can result from the powerlessnature of existence.

The sculptural work of Cathy Kim involves the replication of spaces withinthe context of memory. For this show, Kim has re-created compact/spaceitself to investigate the possibilities of surveilling both the false andthe obvious.

Meghann McCrory also investigates the concept of surveillance, taking adifferent perspective on her previous work involving fictionalizedlandscapes. McCrory offers evidence of institutional-like worlds thatevoke the subtle fear and tension pervasive in our own everyday existence.

Glenna Jennings presents documentation and a live ‘language booth’ for herproject “Free Serbian Lessons,” which investigates the value of theuseless. Also, try your luck at the grab bag “Ex-Lover or Balkan WarCriminal?,” in which Jennings has re-contextualized her past relationshipswith Serbs as collectible sports cards.

The empty institutional spaces which Charchi Stinson photographs provide asubtle critique of the manner in which architecture shapes our behaviors.The uninhabited and un-homey spaces still bear the intangible presence ofthose who have utilized their functions and services.